Conversations Find Lost Memories
交谈可以找回失去的记忆
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
Imagine forgetting everything you have ever done in life– jobs you held, a marriage you built, the children you raised, your friends, your travels, everything. For many older people such severe memory loss is a reality.
想像一下你忘记了你曾经所做的所有事情，包括你所从事的工作，你所建立的婚姻，你所培养的孩子，你的旅行等所有的一切。这样严重的失忆对于老年人是现实存在的。
But in Tennessee, one man works to connect senior citizens with their past to regain their sense of self.
不过在田纳西州的一个人，致力于和年老公民谈论他们的过去来帮助他们恢复自我感知。
Doug Oliver and his friend Geneva McElroy are talking about old times.
道格·奥利弗和他的朋友日内瓦·麦克尔罗伊正在谈论过去往事。
Oliver:" Tell me something that you and HC( her husband) did together that was just fun and funny at the same time, that you remember..."
奥利弗说：“跟我说说你记忆里，你和你丈夫在一起时好玩有趣的事情吧……”
McElroy:" Well, we was on our way to church one time, and I can't think what it was, he told something that my niece..."
麦克尔罗伊说：“好啊，有一次在我们去教堂的路上，我想不起来是什么了，好像是他讲了一些关于我侄女的事情……”
However, the two friends are not just having a simple talk about the past, however. Mr. Oliver is using a technique called guided conversations to help Ms. McElroy remember her past.
但是这两位朋友并不只是在简单的谈论过去，道格是在用一种引导式的谈话技巧来帮助麦克尔罗伊女士想起过去。
Guided conversations are planned, purposeful talks. They are designed to help those with memory loss. But the point is not only remembering the past, it is also recovering a sense of self-worth.
引导式谈话是有计划有目的的交谈，是用来帮助那些失忆的人的。但是其目的不只是让他们回想起过去，还有就是恢复他们的自我价值。
“ They can see what they have done that has or will impact the future and it lifts their mood. Many times they will realize that they are and were important; that they have something to offer.”
“他们会知道他们做过什么，将会对未来产生什么影响，而且会提升他们的情绪，很多时候他们会意识到自己曾经或现在很重要，有自己的用处和贡献。”
To understand how guided conversations work it is important to understand an important detail about the brain. Short term and long term memories are stored in different areas of the brain.You can find more Health Report on chinavoa. com.
要想理解引导式谈话是怎样进行的，那么要先了解关于大脑的一个重要细节，短期记忆和长期记忆分别存储在大脑里的不同区域。
Diseases that harm short-term storage areas may not affect long-term storage areas. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, begins in the areas of the brain where short-term memories are kept.
能够对短期记忆存储区造成伤害的疾病，可能并不会影响到长期记忆存储区。以阿兹海默病(老年痴呆症)为例，就开始于大脑短期记忆存储的区域。
Doug Oliver explains.
“ One of the hidden benefits that many elders have, even when they are having trouble with short-term memory, is that their long-term memories are usually intact for a much longer time.”
道格·奥利弗解释说：“这隐藏的好处之一就是当很多老年人短期记忆有问题时，通常他们的长期记忆在很长的一段时间完整无缺。”
For more than twenty years, Mr. Oliver worked as a mental health care provider. He is retired now.
奥利弗先生作为一名心理健康护理人员工作了 20多年，现在退休了。
But he volunteers at a daycare center for senior citizens in the southern U. S. city of Nashville, Tennessee.
但是他志愿在美国南部纳什维尔的老年人日托中心工作。
This is where he uses the guided conversation memory technique. He finds it useful in fighting depression in older people.
他在这里运用引导式谈话记忆技巧，他发现这种方法有助于老年人对抗抑郁。
Oliver:" If we were to talk about HC just for a minute. He passed away six months ago, was it?"
奥利弗先生说：“我们来聊会你的丈夫，他是 6个月前去世的，是吗?”
McElroy:" No, 11 months, a year ago."
麦克尔罗伊说：“不是的， 11个月，一年前。”
Oliver:" Has it been a year already? "
奥利弗：“已经发生一年了吗”
“ Without trying to lift the depression a little bit, people can languish quickly and deteriorate, and so part of the purpose is to take that healthy part of their thinking and get that firing as passionately as you can.”
“如果不努力消除一点他们的抑郁，那么他们会憔悴恶化的很快，所以这样谈话的部分目的也是为了让他们积极健康的思考，尽可能的点燃他们的激情。”
Mr. Oliver says it is important to get patients to connect the past to the present and the future. These connections help a person reach memories that are buried deep away in the brain. To do this, he uses memories of good experiences and bad - - successes and losses.
奥利弗先生称，让病人把过去现在和未来联系起来很重要。这些联系会帮助人们想起深埋在大脑中的记忆。为了达到这一效果，他会利用人们记忆里好的或坏的经历，成功或者失败的经历。
“[ It] Helps them to determine what they learned from those incidences, those memories. How does that apply to them and their families in the present, and what impact do they think they have had on the future.”
“这会帮助他们确定从这些记忆中所学到的东西，以及如何把它们运用到现在的自己和家庭中去，和他们认为这些会对未来产生什么影响。”
Catholic Charities operates the senior daycare. The group praises Mr. Oliver’s work. Linda Edwards helps direct the daycare. She says Doug Oliver has a gift for helping seniors feel needed and valued.
这个老年人日托中心是由天主教慈善会开办的，天主教慈善会很是称赞奥利弗先生的工作。琳达·爱德华兹帮忙管理该日托中心，她称，道格·奥利弗让病人感觉到自身的被需要和有价值。
Mr. Oliver says sometimes he thinks about quitting. He has an eye disease and cannot see well. For him, getting to the daycare center and home again can be difficult.
奥利弗先生称，有时他也会想辞职。他有眼疾，眼睛不好使。对于他来说，每天去日托中心再回家就很困难。
“ Each time I consider that, I actually step back and say,‘ No. I am where I need to be right now. And I am doing what I should be doing.”
“每次我想到这，实际上我就已经在后退了，我就告诉自己，‘不行，我现在要呆在需要我的地方，要做我应该做的事。”
But Mr. Oliver says he has always been interested in older people and the stories they tell. He says that listening to these stories brings history to life in a very personal way.
但是奥利弗先生称他一直很喜欢和老年人聊天，对他们所讲述的故事很感兴趣。他说所听的这些故事，以非常个人方式为生活讲述历史。
